Patch 5.2 - No Item Upgrades
Ghostcrawler clarified his previous statement and let us know that no gear will be upgraded at all once Patch 5.2 is released, as the NPC will be removed.

Patch 5.2 - LFR Item Level Requirement

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Just wanted to share some updated info we have with you guys: At this moment our intent is to change Thunder King’s LFR ilvl requirement to 480, we also want to lower the Honor gear in patch 5.2 from 483 to 476, compensating with some bonus PvP stats, so that the gear remains as powerful for PvP but not allow players to use it as a quick shortcut into LFR.

Like always, everything is subject to change, we’re still in PTR stage folks! And we all know that even on live things can still change, while we always strike to avoid doing that (and that’s why we have a PTR), gameplay comes first, so if a change is urgently needed, we do our best to apply it as fast as possible.

PTR Class and Set Bonus Issues

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

PvP Power

On live, PvP Power grants 0% healing to Balance, Feral, Windwalker, Retribution, Shadow, Enhancement and Elemental. In the next 5.2 build, this number will be 25% (or half of what a healing spec gets). We agree that PvP healing feels too weak for these hybrid classes. We also don't think Shadow really needs this buff, so we will likely offset it in other ways.

We are working on a blog (hopefully next week) to explain some of the other changes to PvP gear in 5.2. We hear your concerns and are trying to address them.

The Protection 2pc is additive. It's duration is 5sec per Holy Power. We realize there are concerns about this enabling block capping, and are keeping an eye on this, and will adjust if necessary to make sure it doesn’t happen, even later in the expansion.

The Protection 4pc does incentivize Unbreakable Spirit. We’re considering possible revisions but want to try it like this for now. It's currently "You gain 1 Holy Power for each 20% of your health taken as damage while Divine Protection is active."

The Retribution 2pc is a debuff on the target, and does not stack or roll. With Glyph of Mass Exorcism, the debuff will be applied to all targets hit by the Exorcism. It affects all of your Holy damage. Yes, that includes Seal of Truth, Censure ticks, and Hand of Light. Censure ticks are affected per tick

whether it was up when Censure was applied doesn't matter. It functions similar to the increased magic damage taken raid debuff, except is Holy-only and self-only. Clipping some debuffs when you get back to back Art of War procs is expected, and balanced around.

The Retribution 4pc does grant a self-buff that is consumed by the next TV, and does not stack. Wasting some procs is expected, and balanced around. Yes it is a single-target benefit that won't increase DPS on AE fights. We don't want to be in such a limited design space (we're talking about the 15th tier here after all) that every set bonus must be super generic and work in every situation. If anything, we'd rather the Ret bonus be even higher for single-target and paladins will just be stronger at single-target and weaker at AE once they have the set bonus than they are in other tiers. Set bonuses are one of the few chances we have to change what your character does (within reason) aside from all of your numbers just getting bigger.

We changed the Repentance cast time to make it consistent with other cast time crowd control. A 1.5 sec cast time (reduced by haste) gives little opportunity for interruption.

During Shuriken Toss, your auto attacks are replaced with throwing Shurikens, which do 80% weapon damage, but are on the 'yellow combat table', meaning they don't glance, and don't suffer the Dual Wield miss penalty. The 80% number was chosen because that approximately offsets those other benefits.

In our above description of Blade Flurry, 'normal' means the same as it previously did; that is to say, the damage that the ability would have done had it hit the secondary target.

Burst of Speed saying "movement-reducing" means that it no longer breaks roots, but does break snares.

We are experimenting with allowing Smoke Bomb to reduce the damage done to allies by 20%. We agree that rogues are lacking in the group utility department and we'd like to see less use of Smoke Bomb strictly as an offensive ability in PvP.

We are going to reduce the PvP set bonus from +50 energy to +30 energy.

Storm, Earth, and Fire does not affect Xuen's damage. The spirits benefit from your Tiger Eye Brew. We agree that a spell with "storm, earth and fire" in the name sounds like a shaman spell, but Warcraft 3 established it as a Pandaren monk ability.

The Mistweaver 2pc is multiplicative. The first target gets normal healing, the second gets 115% of normal, and the third gets 132.25% of normal.

The Shadow 2pc does impact Shadow Word: Insanity, which we're working to resolve. It extends existing effects, preserving their same damage (not recalculating).

We are considering making the glyphs of Desperation and Inner Focus passive for Discipline.

We are considering giving Focused Will to Holy as well as Discipline.

We did not buff PvP Power for healer damage as we did for DPS healing. However, we believe that Discipline specifically might need more damage. One potential solution is to nerf Atonement healing but raise damage so there is no net healing change.

A Prot Warrior using 2 pieces of the DPS set will get 1.0 RPPM of the Enrage.

We agree with concerns that the new Arms rotation doesn't involve much rage management. We are considering a small rage cost for Overpower. Arms will likely need some additional retuning of damage because of the changes to Overpower, Taste for Blood and Slam

we haven't completed tuning yet.

We made a change to warriors to double the effect of haste for them. This is similar to the shaman Flurry benefit, but is passive and not tied to an ability. We want to make haste a better stat for warriors without it eclipsing stats like crit

we aren't trying to force every warrior to reforge.

Promises
We're not making any (except maybe that Direhorn Stampede bit). We're providing you some notes of changes we are currently trying in order to provide you context for some of the other class changes. Many of these may not make it to the live game -- that is the nature of a PTR. As always, we appreciate feedback on any of this.

Storm, Earth, and Fire: The spirits will not mirror non-damaging abilities like Leg Sweep or Charging Ox Wave. They will mirror damaging abilities like Chi Wave. In the cases of damaging abilities that also heal (Chi Wave, Zen Sphere, and Chi Burst), their healing and yours is reduced. But for other heals which aren’t mirrored (like Healing Sphere, Blackout Kick from the front, or consuming a Healthstone), it won’t reduce the healing. In the case of Zen Sphere, the spirits will cast it on themselves when you cast it on anyone. Note that many of these things aren’t working yet, but should in the next PTR build, or perhaps the one after that. Also, in the next PTR build, attempting to cast it on a target that already has one of your spirits on it will recall that spirit.

Some have asked why the 2pc procs more often for Survival than Marksmanship. Marksmanship typically has more haste than Survival, such as from Steady Focus. (Remember, RealPPM proc rates scale with your haste).

Blue Posts

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Throne of Thunder and MountsFinally, I think we need to be able to mount in that instance. I think travel time is just going to be way too much of a problem otherwise.
The fact that you cannot currently mount in the exterior ruins section of the zone is a bug. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

PvP Gear Changes Blog PostOther than the blog that you have linked from October, is there anything else you can "hint" to us that is more recent that we can possibly expect in the near future?
Not just yet. Soon™. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

WorldIncentive to explore has always been a weak point in WoW,Can we expect more achievements like "Lost and Found" to remedy this?
We just have to make exploring really exploring and not download a mod / visit a website. (Source)

just wanted to clarify something r u now or have you ever been completely or partially against flying mounts?
It's not that simple. It would be hard to remove them, yet we don't like how they minimize exploration, travel & sense of danger. (Source)Isnt minimizing travel the whole point of a mount? Also, they dont minimize exploration, in my case they improve it
The journey is a big (biggest?) part of most fantasy tales. For me, exploration needs a hint of danger to be interesting. (Source)that doesn't really answer my question
It's not a question with a simple answer. Sorry. If I could go back in time, I would argue for much stricter limits on them. (Source)I remember reading a PvP blog that flying mounts made escaping too easy, do you think "hardened shell" is enough?
It was just an experiment to see how it felt. (Source)

Do you feel like CRZ takes away the one advantage small pop servers had of less competition for rare spawns?
We don't really want small pop servers to have advantages though. We think larger pop servers are more fun. (Source)

I know u r concerned about the role of guilds in xrealm raiding, but isn't the point of being n a guild 2 b with ppl u like?
There are still benefit in realm community. Queuing features are a necessary evil, not because we don't value community. (Source)

MiscI have friends who've already tried the expac. They got to 90 and they've already given up, "I have to log in EVERY day....!?"
The opposite extreme is "Why am I playing this game? I log in once a week and then there is nothing else to do." (Source)

Remember, while convenience is nice, accomplishments are rewarding. Accomplishments with too much convenience may not feel rewarding. (Source)Parapharsing someone I can't recall: "We don't play this game because it is easy, we play it because it is hard."
In China, I hear a lot: I don't play the game because it's fun. I play for prestige. (Source)

Being a casual has nothing to do with what GC is saying.
In fact casual players are probably more likely to opt out of hard content for which rewards will be quickly replaced. Also i believe the "accomplishment envy" faction is small. And why should a game be catered to envy?
.It's not about that. It's "Why should I bother on this tough boss when the new content will just invalidate all the gear anyway?" (Source)

yes it does. I wish GC would just announce once and for all the game is tailored for the hardcores.
It's not. Not sure there are 10 million hardcore players in the world. (Source)

More and more people are heading to private vanilla servers, why not just make an official one?
We don't want to maintain two versions of the game (and we don't believe that the vanilla crowd would be happy with no support). (Source)

Nobody cares about dummy dps because there is no movement involved and such bosses dont exist in mop.
If only that were true. Players use simulated dummy dps as evidence all the time. (Source)

You are now able to duel other players. There is no scorekeeping system or objectives, just combat in four areas with up to four players.

Some minor balancing (buffs) to the Wizard and Monk classes.

New rare crafting recipes that are purchased, world drops, or have a chance to drop from certain bosses when you have five stacks of Nephalem Valor.

Another new tier of gems, Marquise gems.

Monster Power support in public games and increased experience bonuses for all MP levels.

Other small monster changes and quality of life improvements.

Curse Weekly Roundup
In this week's roundup: Blizzard announces they've raised 2.3 million dollars for Sandy victims, Curse has an exclusive with the team from God of War, Cyberpunk rocks the world with their debut trailer, and Black Ops 2 wins big this year.

yes it does. I wish GC would just announce once and for all the game is tailored for the hardcores.

Holy crap it's amazing how stark the contrast in whining you hear from this community. So many people convinced Blizz sold out for "casuals" and then casuals convinced Blizz only caters to hardcore people with no lives. It's enough to drive a man to be a hedgehog rustler.

Um, no? Once you've purchased all the pieces you can use for your Main and offsets, what are you supposed to do with the excess valor? You should be capping anyway, if you're on the Black Prince's valor quest. If you're not, dunno what you're doing in the game.

this is bs... if theirs no upgrades at all wtf am i supposed to spend my valor on? O-O

did blizzard not think this through or something? their seriously thinking about not even bringing it back? why dont they just remove valor and make everything use jp since valor points have no use now

"I was a normal baby for 30 seconds, then ninjas stole my mamma" - Deadpool
"so what do we do?" "well jack, you stand there and say 'gee rocket raccoon I'm so glad you brought that Unfeasibly large cannon with you..' and i go like this BRAKKA BRAKKA BRAKKA" - Rocket Raccoon

that makes me feel better then. atleast ill have stuff to spend it on now.

if they dont bring upgrades back in 5.3 though its just going to look really stupid though. i mean seriously if they were unsure about it why didnt they do more internal testing before upgrading the ui and everything?

"I was a normal baby for 30 seconds, then ninjas stole my mamma" - Deadpool
"so what do we do?" "well jack, you stand there and say 'gee rocket raccoon I'm so glad you brought that Unfeasibly large cannon with you..' and i go like this BRAKKA BRAKKA BRAKKA" - Rocket Raccoon

if im wrong about this then please someone correct me and ill change my mind. but wouldnt it be incredible easy to just restrict upgrading from whatever ilvl and below to prevent items from 5.2 being upgraded and then remove the restriction in 5.3?

"I was a normal baby for 30 seconds, then ninjas stole my mamma" - Deadpool
"so what do we do?" "well jack, you stand there and say 'gee rocket raccoon I'm so glad you brought that Unfeasibly large cannon with you..' and i go like this BRAKKA BRAKKA BRAKKA" - Rocket Raccoon